Almost everyone will agree that we want our cities to be vibrant places where life is good and people have access to all the services and activities that they want to participate in. But the key question is how exactly this vision of the future should be translated into concrete actions. Which mobility measures will effectively help realise the goals of the sustainable urban mobility plan (SUMP)? There is no one single recipe for success, but there are excellent guidelines and examples that can help each city to find a combination of measures that is just right for the local context and the challenges presented by that context.

This topic is also covered in various ways by the upcoming ECOMM 2016 in Athens. The deadline to submit a presentation to the conference is 16 December – find details here.

In this e-update, we will point you to some useful insights and tools to help you find the right mix of measures for your city. But first, we have a look at the latest developments in our ENDURANCE project.

ENDURANCE national networks continuously expanding

In our previous e-update we presented the status of the ENDURANCE national networks in half of the ENDURANCE countries. The other half, however, has worked equally hard to build enduring networks to support cities in their SUMP development. A short overview:

Northern Europe:

Lithuania - 13 citiesWith 13 members, the Lithuanian network has exceeded expectations. The Association of Local Authorities in Lithuania agreed to take on the role of Network Coordinator for SUMP cities. This will provide some sustainable continuity to the ENDURANCE project. Meanwhile, government support for SUMP keeps increasing. From January 2016, 16 Lithuanian cities will have access to national funds to help develop and deliver SUMPs. To support this, the Lithuanian Ministry of Transport is also supporting a series of awareness-raising and training events.

Norway - 6 citiesThe First Norwegian SUMP conference took place in Oslo on 9 April 2015. The attendance was massive - nearly 140 delegates took part in the event, representing 16 different Norwegian municipalities as well as ministries, government agencies, county councils and a number of public and private institutions. The conference was an important contribution to putting sustainable mobility plans on the agenda in Norway. The second national event (link in Norwegian) has just taken place on 27 November. The cities of Oslo, Bodø and Sandnes have presented their work on mobility planning there.

Estonia - 2 cities, 50 personsThe Estonian SUMP network called LILI – “Linnad ja liikuvus” or “Cities and Mobility” – is currently a network of more than 50 people, representing cities, NGOs, consultancies, research organisations and national ministries meeting once or twice a year for inspiration, information exchange and training. The Estonian NFP also moderates a LILI discussion group (link in Estonian) on Facebook with more than 670 members, including representatives from the public sector, mobility and urban planning experts, transport companies, NGO-s, politicians, journalists and other stakeholders, making this the major channel for disseminating local and international news on mobility and sustainable transport issues. The ENDURANCE project has also enabled a representative from the Ministry of Economy to take part in a Finnish ENDURANCE seminar and site visits in Helsinki.

Latvia - 2 citiesOn 21 October, the Latvian network held a SUMP seminar that was attended by representatives of 10 cities and municipalities, two planning regions and the Ministry of Transport. Several cities and municipalities presented their plans and projects in the field of transport, urban infrastructure, development of the mobility of long-term vision to 2020. Participants noted the usefulness of such meetings and discussions and expressed the wish to continue such seminars in the future. Daugavpils and Rezekne have joined the ENDURANCE network and other cities have expressed their interest.

Eastern Europe:

Hungary - 7 citiesSeven Hungarian cities have joined the ENDURANCE network. In 2015 the network joined KETOSZ, the National Association of Bicycle Friendly Settlements. Two national SUMP meetings have been organised, the next will take place in February 2016. Although most cities still don’t have sustainable mobility plans, they are interested to expand their knowledge for the creation of their own SUMP in the future. In the capital city of Budapest, the SUMP is under implementation and has achieved strong public acceptance. An English version is available online.

Poland - 22 citiesSo far 22 cities have joined the ENDURANCE network in Poland. Seventeen of them have participated in the ENDURANCE SUMP survey to determine the current status of each city, in terms of developing and implementing the SUMP. All of them are interested in developing and implementing SUMP but the main barrier for local authorities is to find the financial resources for preparing the SUMP. The survey gained surprisingly extensive radio and internet press coverage. A fair number of local newspapers contacted the Polish NFP CIFAL Płock, asking if they can publish its results. A few representatives of smaller municipalities and non-profit organisations were also interested in the research findings.

Southern Europe:

Greece - 19 citiesAt their first national event, the Greek network already attracted 125 participants the majority being representatives from the regional and local authorities. The representatives from the authorities recognised the importance of SUMPs in achieving their goals. Barriers however are the lack of specialised staff to develop and support an SUMP and the fact that current mentality is not in favour of public participation in the decision-making process. Last month, the network held its second national meeting.

The Netherlands - 10 citiesAs all Dutch municipalities are obliged by law to have a mobility plan that comes pretty close to a SUMP, the Dutch network has focused mainly on good examples of SUMPs in Europe and how to transition from the current mobility plan to a ‘real’ SUMP. The second national meeting was broadcasted online, allowing nine participants to be virtually present throughout the day (view the broadcast).

Austria - 8 citiesThe Austrian network has been successfully integrated into the existing klimaaktiv mobil-network. Hence, ENDURANCE is considered to be in good hands and will profit from the network.With the support of the klimaaktiv mobil consulting programme “Mobility Management for cities, municipalities and regions”, Austrian cities are approached trying to encourage SUMP development and implementation in Austria. Up to eight cities have now been motivated to actively take part in the Austrian network. Two more are in the loop and will join shortly. During the ENDURANCE project a financial support bonus for SUMP implementation has been worked out together with the Ministry of Environment: Currently the national klimaaktiv mobil funding programme explicitly recommends aligning mobility management measures with the European SUMP guidelines. Furthermore an extra bonus is granted for the combination of several mobility measures, fostering a more holistic approach.In September 2015 the second national SUMP meeting took place and was part of a two-day event called ‘Jointly shaping Energy Transition and Mobility Change” scheduled from 17-18 September and organised in cooperation with klimaaktiv mobil and the Ministry of Environment. The third national meeting will take place at the beginning of next year in the western part of Austria.

Germany - 5 citiesThe German network started by identifying the communalities and differences between the German Verkehrsentwicklungsplan (traffic and transport development plan or VEP) and the European SUMP approach. Despite the fact that both SUMP and VEP reflect more or less the same kind of “progressiveness” in mobility planning and can be seen as widely identical, the SUMP nevertheless goes further than VEP in four respects:

a political vision combined with relatively concrete objectives reaching beyond a common electoral term;

a strong focus on securing a certain level of mobility rather than transport measures like building new infrastructure;

a more ambitious, continuous participation process involving a broader audience;

monitoring and evaluation of both the strategic and the implementation part of a planning process.

So far, the ENDURANCE network has organised two events, providing valuable input to many municipalities who are working on a new mobility plan.As the German network partners received requests for an English translation of German guidelines, the GIZ (German Society for International Cooperation) has now published them under the title 'Recommendations for Mobility Master Planning', available for download here. Even more information can be found on the website created as part of the initiative'German Partnership for Sustainable Mobility‘.

Smart packages of measures

In order to be able to choose a smart package of measures for a SUMP, a city needs to have a solid strategic framework and a common vision (see our fifth e-update on vision building). The respective measures and actions can be chosen to fulfil that vision and reach the goals. Ultimately, all mobility measures should contribute to increased accessibility of the city and its services for citizens, while maintaining or improving quality of life. Sometimes, other strategic policy documents can also provide guidance for selecting the right measures. In Budapest, Hungary for instance, the urban Development Concept defines the vision and long-term priorities for the city’s overall development. Based on this concept and extensive stakeholder consultations, the city developed the SUMP - known as Balázs Mór Plan. Another key element in the planning process is a travel demand model that accurately reflects travel demand and available supply in the city.

Like a good meal is not cooked with only one ingredient, a good SUMP will contain a smart mix of different kinds of measures: infrastructure, monetary (dis)incentives, regulations, communications, education and awareness raising, services, etc. Some measures need to ‘push’ people out of their private cars, while other measures should ‘pull’ them to sustainable alternatives. The measures and policies should cover a wide range of target groups and address comprehensively all modes of transport in the entire urban agglomeration, including public and private, passenger and freight, motorised and non-motorised transportation.

A good example is a recent – and heavily discussed – project in Vienna, Austria. When the “Innere Mariahilfer Straße”, one of Vienna’s main shopping streets, was turned into a pedestrian zone it was not sufficient to just restrict cars from passing through. Instead, a whole package of measures was needed to make the street attractive for pedestrians. Also, accompanying measures for the adjoining districts were necessary. Most importantly, speed limits on certain parallel running streets were set to avoid displacement of the former through traffic to those areas.

CIVITAS: focusing on integrated packages of measures since 2000

CIVITAS in Szczecinek

Within the European CIVITAS Initiative, eight thematic categories of measures have been identified as the basic building blocks of an integrated strategy for sustainable mobility. Each city chooses a set of mobility solutions from these building blocks according to their local priorities:

Generating options

Cities are often unaware of the full range of policy measures available to them. Several studies have shown an over-reliance on preconceived ideas within the urban transport policy formulation process. Cities tend to focus on supply-side measures such as infrastructure and management rather than demand-side measures such as regulation and pricing. Often they do not have a formalised approach for option generation and they lack expertise to design a measure to meet local needs. KonSULT is a website designed to help overcome these weaknesses. The most recent version was developed under the European Commission’s CH4LLENGE project. It includes a Measure option generator and various guidebooks for decision makers and planners.

Looking beyond the borders of their country, cities will find a wealth of best practices and inspiration. But it is also very valuable to look at national best practices, as they largely share the same context. That is why the ENDURANCE partners take so much effort to establish enduring national networks.

Evidence–based decision making

Evidence–based decision making

NISTO evaluation framework

Another short-coming that the KonSULT tools want to overcome is the lack of evidence on the performance of measures and the failure to appraise the chosen measures in terms of effectiveness, acceptability and value for money. Since urban transport measures have various side effects on urban environments, transport systems and their users, it is essential that a thorough impact assessment is carried out before deciding on the ‘recipe’. Thus planners can maximise the effectiveness of transport interventions and reduce negative impacts.

Very often however, current appraisal methods provide the monetary benefits of a measure, but not the full range of wider social, environmental and economic costs (Source: EVIDENCE common practice reader). The TIDE Impact Assessment Handbook was developed to offer cities an appraisal method that includes qualitative impacts of measures, as quantifiable impacts alone will not reveal the full contribution of a measure on your transport system. The method is also applicable to small-scale projects that do not lend themselves to full-blown cost-benefit analysis. Similarly, The NISTO evaluation framework offers methods for transport planners and policy makers to appraise small-scale mobility projects in terms of their sustainability, stakeholder preferences, societal impact and achievement of policy targets.